Species profile: Agrypnia pagetana

Agrypnia pagetana Curtis, 1835

Agrypnia pagetana is one of eight members of the Family Phryganeidae found in Ireland, and one of three representatives of the genus. It is a species whose larvae can be found in the littoral zone of lakes, ponds and canals, being limited to standing waters. Its substratum preference includes mud, plants, particulate organic matter and woody debris. Final instars of Agrypnia pagetana are known to use a segment of reed or horsetail as a case. The species shows no preference for a particular pH, and can occur in brackish waters.

Agrypnia pagetana has a univoltine reproductive cycle (one generation per year) and lives less than one year. Its feeding ecology is mainly predatory, with some grazing/scraping and gathering of fine particulate organic matter (FPOM).

Characteristic features of the larva of Agrypnia pagetana include the largely unsclerotized mesodorsum and metadorsum, the presence of lateral and dorsal protuberances on the 1^st abdominal segment, the strongly banded head with the side bands meeting at the back of the head and running forward as far as the jaws, the presence of a prosternite, a pronotum with two distinct patches of colour and a fronto-clypeal band that is parallel-sided or slightly wider posteriorly.

Adults of Agrypnia pagetana can be found on the wing from April to September.

For distribution records of Agrypnia pagetana, visit the National Biodiversity Data Centre page here. I first recorded this species from Lough Ree at Rinnegan, Co. Roscommon in May 2018.

References

Barnard, P. and Ross, E. (2012) The Adult Trichoptera (Caddisflies) of Britain and Ireland. RES Handbook Volume 1, Part 17.

Graf, W., Murphy, J., Dahl, J., Zamora-Muñoz, C. and López-Rodríguez, M.J. (2008) Distribution and Ecological Preferences of European Freshwater Species. Volume 1: Trichoptera. Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber & Daniel Hering (eds). Pensoft, Sofia-Moscow.

O’Connor, J.P. (2015) A Catalogue and Atlas of the Caddisflies (Trichoptera) of Ireland. Occasional Publication of the Irish Biogeographical Society, No. 11.

Wallace, I.D., Wallace, B. and Philipson, G.N. (2003) Keys to the Case-bearing Caddis Larvae of Britain and Ireland. Scientific Publication of the Freshwater Biological Association No. 61.

Last updated: 05/06/2018